Thin line between Love and Hate
by NaomiHope
Summary: After Hermione and Draco are positioned as Head Girl and Boy at Hogwarts they must learn how to get along with each other. However, they don't have very long before their lives are turned upside down and they are forced to do something drastic. Will this
1. I'm a WHAT!

Hermione lay in her bed looking at the various things that she had gotten for her 17th birthday. Chocolate from Ron, a wonderful book from Harry, and tea cakes from Hagrid. She knew that Hagrid tried hard and for that reason only, she decided not to throw them away.

She looked up at the ceiling and saw her cat walking around, suspended in the air. Crookshanks had been doing this for a while and still Hermione hadn't understood why. She had spent the entire day working on her packing and she was ready to head out the door. There was only one thing haunting her memory. This was going to be the last summer that she spent with her parents before going into the Ministry.

Hermione reluctantly got out of the warm bed and walked down to the kitchen to grab some breakfast before she had to take her things down to the car. Her father was there, hunched behind a paper. She could feel in the air that he had been upset that morning. Who could blame him, this was the last time that year that he would see is only child. Hermione wasn't going to be able to see her parents over the breaks since the aurors tests would take place then as well as the training.

Her father lifted his head over the paper and Hermione looked into his red eyes. He was proud and she knew it but she knew that he hurt inside.

"I'm proud of you, baby girl. Your mother and I always knew that you would do great things. Now go get your things or we will be late." It seemed like he had to change the subject, before he started crying again. Hermione nodded, expecting there to be more feeling of happiness in the situation, instead only sadness loomed in the air. Hermione levitated her bags from her room since she was now of legal age. Her father watched from the distance and grabbed the keys to his car, the entire time wishing that he had his old little girl back, the little girl that would giggle as he pushed her on the swings and cry when it came time for primary school.

The two of them walked in silence on their way to the car. The ride to King's Cross was a bit more cheerful, however, it was fake. Her parents tried to make the last trip as comfortable as they could since it was going to be the most painful on all of them. The time drew for Hermione to get her things and get into the station. Her parents followed behind her until they got to the dividing where they were forced to say goodbye for the last time. She would see them again in a little over two years since the heavy training required her to stay refrain from any contact of them. These days were very dangerous especially with the dark lord back in power. There was a chance that they could be killed.

Hermione emerged from the wall on the other side to see many happy faces surrounding her. She wanted to be apart of the joy but found the emotions inside of her keeping her from smiling. Hermione just walked past and onto the train that was awaiting the other students. She continued to the middle part of the train knowing that neither Harry or Ron would be on the train just yet, not that she would want to talk to them in her present situation anyway.

She sat down onto the bench just wondering if she wanted to go through with the life that she had planned for herself in her 3rd year at Hogwarts. She was thinking back on the years when the hallways filled with students and the once peaceful quiet was overwhelmed with the happy chatter from the students. The walls began to rumble, as the train jolted from it's stop and started to pick up speed. Hermione let out a breath of air as she realized that the boys must have found a different compartment.

The halls outside grew quiet as all of the students had finally settled into their own places. A couple of students had looked into her compartment to see if it was empty but walked off, so now she was alone. She sat there for a while before the door flung open to show a flustered kid.

"Are you Hermione Granger? Good they've been looking for you. You are supposed to report to carriage number 214." The kid left as he tried to catch his breath. Hermione stood up, levitating her luggage behind her, and left the compartment behind to look for number 214.

"231… 227… 218… 214." Hermione said to herself as she found the compartment. She opened the door to find Dumbledore sitting there.

"How odd," she thought as she sat along next to him.

He acknowledged her but said nothing as if he was waiting for someone else to enter. A minute went by until the door opened again to show a boy with light blonde hair in a black shirt leaning against the door.

Hermione's jaw dropped as she tried to get up and leave but Dumbledore stopped her before she reached the door. Draco sat and so did a reluctant Hermione, both awaiting an explanation.

"I am certain that you both are confused as to why you are sitting here before me in the presence of each other. As comes every new generation of 7th years there must be 2 students from different houses that are set far above the rest. That is where you two have been placed. Before the start of this school year all of the Heads of House got together and generated a list of students that they thought eligible to represent our school. It was then my job to select two of them and present them with these badges." He held out two badges for them to see, one of them said Head Girl and the other said Head Boy.

Hermione gasped and Draco just smirked. From a list of more that 30 students they had been picked. Hermione just looked at the boy that sat across from her and shook her head. Since the summer that she had read Hogwarts: A History she had wanted to be Head Girl but not it she was to be paired with the dimwit that sat with her.

The headmaster gave them the badges and left the room before any protests were made. Upon leaving he conjured a sign on the door that told any passerby's that this was the Head Student's compartment. He walked the length of the train and back into the staff compartment. Hermione despised Dumbledore now. How could he have paired her with Draco, the one person in Hogwarts that she truly hated? She glared at him as she reached for a book to read. Hermione was not in the mood to deal with him right now and had she been willing to look for Harry and Ron, she would have left him there alone. Too bad she was not in the mood to go gallivanting off around the halls.

Hermione began to read but was stopped by the snickering of Draco.

"What the hell are you laughing about?" Hermione snapped.

"Ow she bites," he laughed again, "What has your knickers in a bunch? It just funny how he's up to his tricks again, the mudblood lover."

Hermione was already having a bad day and the comment about muggle-borns sent her over the edge. She jumped up off the seat and ran over to him, ready to punch him into next Tuesday.

"Why you little ferret arse, oily faced, son of a bitch. I've had it up to hear with your stupid attitude. I HATE YOU." Hermione took a swing at his face but he caught her fist with a hand but she thought quick enough and hit im hard with the other. Stunned, Draco grabbed her other hand and twisted her around so that she was sitting where he was and now he was over her, pinning her down with his weight.

"Stop swinging at me and calm down. I haven't done anything to you." Hermione laughed at how ironic the statement was.

"What about the years of mental agony, or the physical pain that you have caused Harry and Ron," Hermione paused, "Draco what about what you did to me last year in potions." After the words were said Draco had no clue what she was talking about until he saw the long burn on her forearm.

"So you remember when you sabotaged the potion and poured it on me that day. Madame Pomfrey told me that I almost lost my arm, 3 WEEKS LATER WHEN I CAME OUT OF THE COMA!" Draco remembered, he remembered really well. It was the only time when he felt sorry for what he had done. It turned out that the potion was deadly had it been mishandled and when Harry confronted him a week later telling him that he killed her Draco went into his room and begged for forgiveness to no one in particular. The one thing he feared was turning into his ruthless father, the bloodthirsty killer.

Draco opened his mouth to apologize but reality set in and he realized that Malfoy's don't apologize. He simply let her go and sat as far away from the girl as he could get.

Draco's mind whirled and the only thing written in stone was the fact that they were going to have to get along, the Slytherin boy and Gryffindor girl were going to have to live with each other.

Hermione sighed as she realized that in a way Draco had helped her, the hate that she felt for him had taken away the pain of leaving her parents. The only thing she needed to be worrying about now was school, but how wrong she was.


	2. Crying Memories

The train pulled up to the station in Hogsmeade and the students were stepping out. Hermione and Draco had to stay behind and wait for Dumbledore to give them orders for the procedures. They waited until the last student had exited the train and Dumbledore entered their compartment.

The fight that Hermione and Draco had been having the entire ride was interrupted when the headmaster entered the room. He sat down next to Hermione with Draco in front and he began to speak.

"Now there are some different regulations that are placed for the head students. I must speak to you quickly so I can get into the great hall to introduce the new students and present the welcome back speech. Ok so 1. Your curfew is 12 midnight unlike the Prefects 11 and the student's 10:30 curfews. The hour that you have is used to patrol the halls along with the caretaker to look for any hidden students and potential problems for example, any Weasley Wizard Wheezes, they are particularly dangerous. 2. You both will receive times tables used for an hour of extra sleep, they have a limit to allow an hour time lapse, and they are to be used in the dorm room ONLY. And last, 3. You will share living quarters this year and the current password is Haley's Chocolate Comets. Now be off, you have patrolling to do." He handed them their time turners, and exited the compartment in haste.

Draco looked at Hermione in confusion, he didn't want to ask for her help but he needed to know how to work the time turner. Hermione shook her head as he asked the question and told him that she would show him how when they got to the new dorm. For now they had to get inside before the train left the station.

Both of them left the train to find one left over carriage Hermione stepped in first and levitated her bags in behind her. Draco followed in suit. The carriage started to move toward the castle but the mood inside remained silent, no one felt like speaking to the other. The carriage moved slowly up to the front doors, and when they reached it, they were the only people there.

Draco stood outside of the carriage and waited for Hermione before they continued to the doors. Hermione was confused as to why he waited for her but shrugged it off, they walked through the heavy oak doors and into the hallway where a house elf met them and took their things to the Head Student's dorm while Hermione and Draco continued to the Great Hall.

The great hall was filled with the chatter of students as each new 1st year was sorted. Hermione walked to the right side of the room and Draco to the left. Hermione sat down quietly next to Ron and poked him to get his attention.

"Harry, Hermione's finally here! Jeez Hermione we were looking for you, how come you weren't in the carriage with us?" Ron asked her and Harry just nodded in agreement. Hermione flashed a smile and pulled out the Head Girl Badge. Ron beamed at her but Harry looked very upset.

"Hermione! Wow. That's the coolest thing that's happened to the one of us this summer. Now who is the Head Boy? Zabini? Jordan? Thompson?" Ron questioned.

"I wish; it's Malfoy." Hermione sneered. Ron's mouth dropped and Harry slammed his fist down on the table.

"WHAT! Tell me you're kidding, please. How could Dumbledore pick_ him_ over me?" Hermione was shocked, she knew being Head Boy was very important to him but how could he be so jealous of Draco?

Hermione begged him to chill out since he was making a scene; Harry just leaned back in his chair and sulked while Dumbledore ended the sorting with the speech. Hermione just ate her dinner in the silence and with the first chance she got, she left the hall and walked up to the new dorm with the password Haley's Chocolate Comets. Had she been in a better mood that day, she would have marveled over the elegant decoration of entry room, instead she stormed over to the couch, sat down, and screamed into the pillow beside her.

"I hate them; I hate them, I HATE THEM!" Hermione had been tipped over the edge, how could Harry not be happy for her, actually he had been downright cruel to her. It hadn't been all about Harry though, her parents had been avoiding her all summer and hadn't even cried as they said goodbye to her for the last time for 2 years. That alone sent a tear down her cheek. Maybe they hadn't felt so bad about it after all. Back at home she had over heard them talking about the vacation that they would finally be able to take that summer since Hermione wouldn't be home. Hermione had started wondering if she had just in their way. Did she mean anything to them at all? It hurt her deeply to think about conversation and she felt tears sting in her eyes but she pushed them back and lay on her side while flashbacks of her younger days clouded her vision.

The door opened and Draco walked into the room and saw Hermione's body, shaking on the couch. He wondered what was wrong with her but then knew that she was crying when he heard her sniff and breath hard. He just rolled his eyes and continued to his own dorm room, He changed from his robes into his black basketball shorts and a white tee to sleep in. The entire time he was thinking about what could be troubling her so much, the only time that she ever cried was when he said something pertaining to her parents and when her, potty head, and weasel would go at it. He shrugged it off, realizing it wasn't his fault this time, and got into the warm bed in front of him while Hermione lay on the couch, crying herself to sleep over the realization that she had just been a mistake to her parents.

Hermione fell asleep and her mind drifted to the conversation between her mother and father on the day that she had gotten the letter from Hogwarts.

"This is great Madeline, we had been thinking about a private boarding school for her for quite some time that would challenge her, now she has gone and gotten into one all by herself." Her father and told her mother. Hermione was too young and excited to understand the full meaning to what her dad had said. He would finally have Hermione out of the house.

She remembered all of the summers where she would be in daycare while her parents went to work and did extra things; they would always have her spend the nights at her friends' houses. When she came home for the summer, after her year at Hogwarts, they would ask her if she wanted to spend half of the summer with Ron, the entire time she thought that they just wanted her to keep up with friends, now she new otherwise. It just clicked that their trip to Rome had been because, for what Hermione thought, they wanted to keep her from finding out their game. She started to wonder if the solemn attitude that her father had at the dinner table was just an act and if the joy in the car was the real thing. The tears continued to flow as she went over these things in her head as she slept.

Back at the Granger household Mr. Granger was at home with his wife and the address book in hand. They were laughing and making phone calls to all of their friends for the party that they had been planning for 2 weeks before Hermione went back to school. They had bought her the apartment that she had been wanting and were now about to host a renovation party where they had their friends help them make it the dream flat for their Daughter. They were a bit sad that they wouldn't be seeing her for a while but just like any parents with teens, they couldn't wait until the day that they had the house to themselves again, they felt that buying her the apartment would keep her out. They were proud of her career accomplishments and rejoiced in the fact that she wouldn't be 37 and still living at home, unlike their friend Jaime's son, and decided to reward her. They continued their invitations, oblivious to the fact that their daughter was ripping inside because of the suspicions that she had been having about her parent's intentions.


	3. Hidden Emotions

Draco woke up earlier than he usually did and since he couldn't get back to sleep he walked down the spiral stairs to the Common Room to look for a House Elf and get some food. He got to the bottom step and saw Hermione's crumpled body curled up in the edge of the couch. Draco couldn't help but feel bad for her. He was only human; after all he had been in her position before huddled up in the corner of the room, defenseless against his father's rage.

Unconsciously he walked over to her; she was laying there, her eyes puffy from crying, something jolted inside of Draco as he felt an emotion that he had never felt before. Pity. Draco was confused more so that anyone else would have been. He was feeling something for this girl, this mudblood, that he had never dreamt of. Hell he never knew he would feel _anything_ other than despise for _anyone_ for that matter, it just wasn't in his blood.

More tears escaped Hermione's eyes, as she lay there defenseless in front of the 7th year Slytherin. Draco stepped back; afraid that, in some way that he had awoken the sleeping girl they lay beneath him. Draco ducked behind the couch, not knowing what else to do, and listened to what ever would happen next. Hermione began another fit as the nightmare gripped her fragile body.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to. Please take me back. Don't leave me here, please. MOM, DAD, PLEASE!" As Hermione kicked and screamed Draco couldn't bear to see her in this torment. He was heartless but not so much as his father. Even though he despised everything that this girl dealt with he couldn't sit back in glory and watch her suffer. It was cruel, something his father would do, and since the first day his father had hit him, Draco swore to never turn into the vile man.

Hermione woke up rocking with her arms around her knees, pulling them to her core, and crying horribly. To her surprise Draco was beside her, with one arm over her shoulders, and rocking her slightly, all the while shushing her. Hermione would have pushed herself as far away as she could but she hadn't the strength. Instead she buried herself in his shirt and cried as he patted her back the entire time. Draco looked at a near-by clock seeing that it was 2 in the morning. He rocked her as if she were just another child trying to get to sleep after a horribly vile nightmare.

They sat there like that for a while until Hermione had finally fallen asleep and Draco stood up lying her down and pulling the blanket up, over her cold, shaking body. Draco had become drowsy from the rocking, like a child becomes sleepy after a bedtime story, and walked back to his own bed and went back to sleep.

The rest of the night went by, for Hermione, without anymore nightmares. Instead she slept peacefully for the remainder of the night. The sun came shining through the window and onto Hermione's face in a mocking way, reminding her that she had to pull herself together and get ready for her classes. Draco came down groggily from the stairs acting as if the previous night had not happened, which was perfectly ok since Hermione thought it was a dream anyway.

"Granger how do you use this thing, I didn't sleep well." Hermione walked over to him sighing to herself in defeat. This boy would never change, so she thought. She turned to him and took her own time turner.

"Since these have a limit to them, you needn't worry about over turning. Just twist it around until it stops and let go."

Draco did so and he was gone again. Hermione called up to Draco who was now sleeping in the dorm, "Draco your hour's up."

Draco came groggily down, again. Looking at Hermione pleading with his eyes to let him sleep later. He tried to turn it again but found it locked so he just continued down the stairs to Hermione.

She left him there at the bottom step and walked to the mini-coffee machine and poured herself a large mug. She savored the flavor and walked up to her own room to get her sack for the day's classes. Draco followed her, trying to get to her coffee and when he got to the door Hermione turned around in amazement.

"DRACO? How did you get up here without the stairs… I mustn't I go into detail? You know what they do." Draco shrugged signaling he had no idea.

"I don't know, I guess these stairs are more trusting. Now give me your coffee, you took it all and I need it more that you do. Draco grabbed for her coffee and turned to descend the stairs again.

"Great, the Slytherin has access to my room and he feels that coffee isn't my thing. Living with him is going to be hell for him if I don't get my coffee." Hermione thought aloud as she reached to the floor of her room and grabbed the bag that lay on the floor.

She headed back down to the common and found Draco there sitting on the couch with her coffee halfway gone. Hermione grabbed another mug from the counter than walked over to Draco, grabbed "his" coffee and poured it in the new mug.

"Hey!" Draco protested.

"Ferret, next time make your own before stealing mine, now go wash this, I don't want to get fleas."

Draco looked thoroughly offended at her words and was going to fight back but she was out the door with what was left of the morning's coffee. Instead he sulked back into his room and grabbed his own sack. He was off to breakfast praying that he only had to see this _witch_ at night.

Hermione entered the Great Hall to find Harry and Ron. She was still mad at Harry for being so jealous but realized that eventually he would get over it. Maybe he already had! Hermione sat down next to Ron and grabbed a piece of toast that sat on a plate in front of her. Ron looked eagerly at Harry, making the latter roll his eyes.

"Ok Hermione, I'm sorry that I was jealous. I'm proud of you, you will make a good Head Girl." Hermione laughed at how robotic it sounded, like Ron had Harry memorize something verbatim the previous night.

"Wow Ron I could feel the emotion, it was so intense," Hermione wiped away a nonexistent tear, "But really thank you, even if you didn't mean it." Ron laughed and Hermione swore that she saw Harry's cheeks puff a little like trying to fight back laughter. In spite of himself his muscles gave in, and a line of laughs emitted from his reluctant mouth.

The 3 friends laughed together as they were on speaking terms again. Hermione shoved the nightmare deep inside of herself to keep from ruining the new happiness that had developed between them. Hermione told them about how Draco was still being a git and told them of the coffee story.

"You really said you didn't want to get FLEAS!" Harry laughed. Hermione nodded and both Ron and Harry roared in laughter. Ginny came up to Hermione and told her to stop making Ron laugh, she was leading him on. Ron stopped very suddenly; making a weird face in confusion, when it all made sense his ears turned the shade of the crimson Gryffindor scarves and buried his face in his robes out of embarrassment.

From the table 2 places away from the Gryffindor's, Draco was watching Hermione and the other two. He laughed inside at how clueless they were. Even he could see that the Brunette that they called their best friends was faking their joy. He could see it in the way that she sat, and the way that her eyes were. She was hiding something from them, the dream most likely, and Draco wanted to know why she hadn't even told them, her best friends, what was bothering her. The blonde turned back to his breakfast and his group remaining quiet as they spoke about the normal, the worthy being the purebloods, and the unworthy being everyone else. Draco just now realized that they were so naïve but joined in to combat any suspicions that they were feeling about him.

The entire time he was thinking, "There is something horribly wrong with her that makes her feel that nobody can relate, I am going to find out what it is." Pansy looked at Draco in a worried way but he shook the worried expression from his face and Pansy smiled flashing Draco her rotting teeth. He shuddered.

"Now that is what I call filth, forget the muggle-borns, not even a rat would touch Pansy." Draco thought to himself as he smiled back awkwardly back to her.


	4. I HATE HIM!

The day had gone by slow for them both; the only action being in Snape's class when he docked Gryffindor 20 points because Harry actually got the potion right for once. Snape accused him of cheating. They both had a lot of homework and they both went about theirs in different ways. During lunch Hermione headed for the library to do hers while Draco just beat up a 7th year Ravenclaw and told him to do his homework. Either way both sets were finished before dinner had even been close to getting started. That day at lunch Ron had even asked if she wanted to go to Hogsmeade with him, as friends. Hermione spirits had been souring high until they came crashing down again after his last two words.

Draco had been asked repeatedly by other girls too, he denied them all, so at least both the blonde and Brunette had something in common, neither of them had dates, at least not with the person that they wanted to go with.

Draco found Hermione at the library, just as he knew he would, and took her by the arm, dragging her out of the room. She looked agitated but not as much as Draco. He looked a bit annoyed and offered to explain his current situation.

"All right Granger I need to talk to you real quick. Did you know that we had a list of names? No. I though so. Well we do, I bet you don't know how many and what they're for either huh? Ok there are a total of 73 houses and names, AND ALL OF THEIR PROBLEMS. Gosh I need your help with this head boy and girl thing. You can't dump all of the work on me ok." Draco pleaded to her.

Hermione had laughed, at how he seemed upset and looked like he had never dealt with an issue for himself before. She just nodded and told him that she was sorry and that they should probably get onto that list. Draco led her to the common room where Hermione grabbed a quill and parchment, and sat next to Draco and the list.

Hermione didn't think that the problems were very hard to sort out so she knew she would have them fixed VERY soon. She instructed him on how to do this but he wasn't paying a bit of attention. Draco watched Hermione, as if in slow motion, flip her curly brown hair behind her neck. He watched he honey-auburn eyes glisten in the light as she focussed on the problems in front of her. Draco felt like he was going to retch but realized that it wasn't that feeling. It was like something small was flying around in his stomach. He never knew that feeling and mistook it for nausea. Hermione watched as the blonde boy ran out of the room and into his dorm room then she heard the bathroom door shut.

She was confused as to why he had been acting so weird for she past couple of days but shrugged it off, knowing that she had a thing to do. Meanwhile Draco was in the bathroom waiting to be thrown into a retching fit, but when it hadn't come for 5 minutes he dismissed it as just a weird feeling. He walked back down to the common room to find that Hermione had finished with the resolutions and was ready to disperse some discipline.

Together Hermione and Draco wrote to all of the students on the list about what to do to resolve their problems and if they found something particularly bad than Draco ran to find the student and give him/her a detention. They had finished and Hermione was up and on her way to the owl tower to send the owls. She used the school owls and was on here way back to the common room but found something most disturbing.

Ron was there, stuttering, in attempt to talk to another girl, Hermione ducked behind a pillar and listened to the conversation. Soon tears began to roll freely down her cheeks as she saw the girl nod in approval and then grab him and she basically started eating his face of. Hermione stood around for a minute wishing, praying that Ron would break the contact and smack her. He didn't, on the contrary he started roaming his hands. Hermione felt something inside her shatter as she walked quietly by and back to the room where she ran up to her room and collapsed on the bed in sobs.

Meanwhile Draco was in his own room making sure that the Ravenclaw hadn't sabotaged his homework when he heard the door of the girls dorm slam shut. Draco rolled his eyes; Hermione was having another fit. Even though he was annoyed on the outside, on the inside he had been deeply concerned for her wellbeing. Hermione was not one to break down and cry, unless he had something to do with it, Draco smiled inwardly at his talent, and he had done nothing to her the entire week, in fact, he had even helped her out.

Draco shut his door behind him and made his way down his stairs only to walk up another flight soon after. Draco surfaced at the second floor and cracked the door to her room; there she was, her disheveled body rocking slightly on the bed as she assumed the position that she had been in the night of the nightmare. Her eyes were glued to something torn up on her bed that she looked to her left and saw a knife. Draco's eyes widened dramatically when he saw that the picture was of her and Ron, as for the knife, she was reaching for it. She pulled out her arm and drew the blade to it.

"HERMIONE, STOP!" Draco decided to make his presence known, far from discreet, he burst through the door, surprising Hermione long enough to take the blade from her arms. To his amazement, she hadn't even yelled at him, she just sat there, dazed. Looking at him with big eyes she opened her mouth and spoke in a calm voice.

"Do you know what it feels like to have your heart turned to ice then smashed into a wall, shattering it into a billion tiny pieces. Then having those pieces melted and molded only for it to happen again, and again, and again." Hermione kept saying the last words. Draco felt that feeling in his stomach again as he looked into her sad eyes and sat next to her just patting her back, hoping it would help. Hermione knew then that the dream wasn't a dream at all, it was reality. Draco either grew a heart or… nope, Draco grew a heart, that's the only possibility. Hermione, acting out of jealousy and pure human nature, laid her head on Draco's shoulder and looked up to him like a lost** LOBSTER**.

The feeling was back again and it was even worse. His stomach was doing flip-flops and his mouth began to water. He looked into her eyes and saw his reflection in the brown spheres. He wanted to deny to himself the feelings that had erupted inside of him. For some reason he had found himself wanting to kiss her. He knew it was wrong. A Slytherin was never meant to like a Gryffindor, especially a Malfoy wanting a muggleborn, but this had been Dumbledore's plan since the beginning, to get the houses to unite once again.

Hermione had her head down again in sadness and Draco found himself asking an extremely rude and bold question.

"Hermione what was that dream about the other night, you looked so… pained." Draco asked her looking into her deeply sad eyes.

Tears began to fall again but she planned to answer his question, he had been nothing but nice to her this year.

"The one that I had a little over 2 months ago?" He nodded, "well before I came my parents had been unusually not upset at my leaving them for 2 years. I was wondering why and realized that from all of my years living there, I was barely never at home with them. I started thinking about them and realized that they never really… l-l-loved m-me." Hermione managed to get out before the tears began to roll freely again. They both stood up as Draco continued to hush her and pat her on the back. For some reason unbeknown to him, Hermione moved herself in front of him and slung her arms around his back, hugging him as she cried softly.

Had it not been for his instinct he would have froze, not knowing what to do, pushing her away would be a horrid thing to do so he wrapped his own arms around her waist and lay his head on top of hers. The entire time they stood there together and Draco realized, for the first time, that he had other types of feelings and actions other than cruelty. Even though they had nighttime patrolling, Draco contacted Dumbledore telling him that Hermione was diffidently not feeling up to par so he released them of their duties. That night Hermione lay sleeping in his bed while Draco sat in a chair near by watching over the sleeping beauty.

This year was not going as expected, for either of them


	5. Can this be Real?

So it looks like someone gets kissed in this chapter, hope you like it. It was hard to write, as it took me a couple of days to start it. Happy Reading! Thanks to everyone that Reviewed and added me to their favorite and alert lists! Special thanks to NotebookLover because she has been with me throughout all of my chapters. Yay!

At 6:00 on Saturday Hermione woke up and looked to her right to find Draco sleeping in the same place that he had been the entire week. Hermione didn't understand why Draco was being so nice but, even though she hated to admit it, she liked the attitude change. Hermione got up from the couch and went into the bathroom to cover up the red makes of her face from the previous night. She had caught Ron and Parvati in a snogging session. Lately Draco had been taking care of the prefects duties since Hermione was always up in her room bawling her eyes out. So far she had not resorted to the act from the night that she saw him ask her out, but that doesn't mean she hadn't thought about it.

They always say you don't know what you had until you've lost it, and now Hermione believed them. She hadn't known that she had such strong feelings for him until that fateful night and now it has come to bite her.

Hermione grabbed the cover up and covered her face in it in attempt to hide the claw marks in her skin. It worked for the time being but decided not to stay out in the halls for longer than needed. She left the bathroom and found Draco stirring. He stood up out of the chair and bent over to relieve the pain in his back from sleeping in the upright position. Hermione felt bad that he had been sacrificing his own comfort for Hermione's wellbeing. The only thing that irked her though was the fact that he offered to do it. All week he hadn't insulted her, or even laughed at her for her weakness. It was odd but she got used to it. He looked straight ahead to the fizzy haired girl and nodded to her asking if she was feeling any better from the previous night. She nodded but he knew that she meant no. He left her alone and went to the kitchen to get some coffee. He came back out a couple minutes later and handed Hermione a mug. She smiled to him and brought the steaming hot liquid to her lips.

Hermione sat down on the couch and continued to sip her coffee. Draco sat across from her in the chair and they stood there in silence while both of them contemplated about starting a conversion. Finally after a while of not speaking Hermione stood up and walked over to Draco.

"Hey let me take that for you." Draco had just finished his coffee and Hermione reached for it. Her hand grazed his and it suddenly felt like it was raining. Chills ran down her spine, confused she looked into his eyes trying to figure out if he felt something too, maybe the room had just gotten cold all of a sudden. The same look was in his eyes and that's when it erupted again, that feeling in his stomach, but this time Hermione felt it too. Hermione broke eye contact and started mumbling in an embarrassed fashion. She took the coffee to the sink and lay the cups down. Hermione turned around to find Draco there in front of her.

"You felt it too didn't you?" He asked in a strange voice. Hermione looked at him and broke away as she forced back a nod.

"Felt what?" she asked as she exited the common room and was now in the empty hallway.

"You know damn well what I mean." Hermione looked at him and his seriousness. She just nodded this time after finding no other escape. Draco just nodded and a new look came over his eyes. Butterflies swarmed in her stomach and chills ran threw her body. He was getting closer and Hermione was getting nervous. She had no idea what he was planning, or maybe she did but didn't want to. Draco was only five feet away now and closing. Hermione felt her hands start to sweat and her face grew hot. If she didn't know what was going to happen then, she did now. He was right in front of her now and just stood there, he looked into her honey auburn eyes and she into his now serene ocean colored ones, before she had just seen them as ice, but now it seemed as if that ice had melted.

He finally began to move again, his arms wrapped around her small frame and he tilted his head to the side.

"I'm sorry I was so cruel." Draco whispered into her ear during the hug. ((Ha. Did you think they were going to kiss?)) Hermione nodded as she wrapped her own arms around him. They stood there for a while until they were interrupted.

"Hermione, what the hell are you doing with _him_?" Ron came out from behind a corner and grabbed Hermione by the waist. He looked at her will mock-concern and they all did something unexpected. Ron did something unexpected, Ron kissed her but Hermione pulled away instantly and slapped him, something she never thought she would do. After seeing Hermione slap him he followed in suit but instead of slapping him, he threw a bloody punch to his face.

"Ron, go back to Parvati, you lost me the day you kissed her." Hermione sneered.

Draco feeling it was his turn, and loving the situation, added, "Weasel do you really think that she would never find out, I'm sure that you already knew. Now go back to the filth that you traded in for and leave Hermione alone." The fact that Draco had just stood up for Hermione had hit him harder than Draco's fist. He stood up and spat blood on the floor.

"I thought you were better than that Hermione, traitor." The next moment Ron was laying sprawled against the floor after being shoved into the wall behind him. However, Draco was standing many feet away, instead Hermione stood over him with her wand level with his face.

"Go back to your girlfriend _Weasley, _and if I ever catch you looking at me I won't hesitate to hex you into next year. If you like your wretched face than you would be wise to keep it to yourself. Oh and one more thing, good luck passing your NEWTS without me to do your homework, you know the ministry requires it now." Ron looked up to Hermione in fear, he knew that she had the knowledge of every hex and spell known to man, that and the fact that he wouldn't pass his 7th year was all truth. Ron had lost the only person that could give him an easy ride through school.

Hermione left him sprawled on the ground and walked over to Draco, she grabbed his hand and they left the hallway laughing. Hermione was "Slytherinish" after all. They walked together to the front of the school and out into the grounds. Hermione asked repeatedly where he was taking her but he remained silent. They walked along the edge of the lake until Hermione had sworn that she had left the country, there was no one around them. Finally Draco turned to her and sat her down on a bolder.

"Hermione, I'm sorry if I upset you but this is important. The past month and a half that we have been in school you have been very upset. I understand the shit about weasel but every time you go to sleep you cry. I'm just worried." Hermione looked at him and knew what he meant. She had gotten a letter in the mail a few days ago from her parents telling her that they had bought her the apartment that she had been looking at. On any other day she would have been happy, but getting the conformation only increased her anxieties. Obviously her parents didn't want her returning home because they had furnished it for her too.

"I'm sorry I've become a burden to you. It seems like I always have," Draco shook his head and held her telling her to go on, "My parents are disowning me, I've cut off all communication with Ron for the last time, and I'm sure that Harry won't talk to me either because of Ron. I have nobody." Draco felt her pain, even though his parents were cruel to him; he wouldn't be here without them. They kept him safe and happy in a way so Draco understood but couldn't relate.

"You'd be amazed if I told you I don't know the feeling. But, I do want to help, your wrong Hermione, you do have someone, you have me." Hermione looked shocked. He had used her first name for the first time and he had told her that he was there for her. She didn't know if she should believe him but when he hugged her and she felt that he had been truthful, she had opened up and let him help. She sure did need it.

"Hermione I have one more thing to tell you, even though I didn't think that I could ever say this I will. I'm an idiotic, immature, git who has been cruel his whole life because of his parents. I swear I am sorry for every thing that I have done to you. I can't believe I'm saying this now, I feel something, something that I never knew that I could feel. I see you and my stomach does flip-flops, I touch you and fireworks light up, I hear you and it's like angels are singing. I know that I'm not meant to have these feelings but I do and there is nothing I can do about it. I have to say that I am always in control of my feelings, but somehow you have swayed that." He said to her as he looked beyond her, deep inside her mind.

Hermione was again surprised with his confession but she felt no less the same. She looked at him and with much difficulty agreed with him, she felt every emotion that went through his body at the moment. But she didn't want to, this was the Slytherin jerk. She couldn't like him, and damn well not love him. Maybe there was something wrong with her, but there wasn't, she liked him and that was it.

Draco hadn't expected her to agree with him but when she did it sure did lessen the nervous tensions that were reeking havoc on his body at the time. He stood up, and she with him, he smiled for the first time in his life, it felt good as he hugged the girl again and nervously asked her to Hogsmeade. Much to his surprise she started crying and nodded.

"I'd love to, I'm sorry I'm crying, you must think of me as silly." She said as she wiped the lone tear from her eye. He just shook his head and his blonde hair swept in his face.

"No, I think of you as beautiful, and that you still deserve better than me, I'm very proud of the way you handled the weasel." He caressed her face and she felt another wave of butterflies. He had felt it to as they stared intensely into each other's eyes. The feeling grew in strength with each inch that disappeared, as their bodies grew closer. Hermione closed her eyes, along with Draco, and with a half-inch left they kissed. The fireworks cracked around them and it was like the world stopped, just for them.


End file.
